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Tuesday, 31 December 2013

Being Stared At To Death

Cerebus #214 (January 1997)Art by Dave Sim

DAVE SIM:(from a fax, 24 December 2013)

Hi Tim! I
think the site is working well as a (possibly) Last Refuge for CEREBUS
fans depending on a) whether the trade paperbacks come back into print
and b) if they sell when they come back into print (IF it's a "when"). In
my situation, I have to go on the assumption that this is the start of the Long Siesta for CEREBUS which continues until long after my death... and then be however pleasantly surprised to whatever extent that proves not to be the case if that proves not to be the case.

I noticed you're getting more comments on the different posting so you may have made it past the "Being Stared At To Death" thing that Craig Miller went through with FOLLOWING CEREBUS which (as you know) can be pretty disconcerting especially when you know that there is (however small) a target audience you're reaching.

Me, I keep trying to figure out ways to make your job a little easier since you are providing a Last Refuge for MY fans. I feel as if I should be paying you the metaphysical equivalent of child support.

How about contacting Oliver Simonsen and having him relay word to all the folks working on the film: can you e-mail Tim a short "Why I'm Working On The CEREBUS 3D FILM For Free When I Get Paid A Lot Of Money To Do This Kind Of Work" along with an example of your work on the film. Also: "What I Plan To Do If Dave Sim Says "No" Which is 99% Likely To Happen".

At the very least, it's a large pool of people to potentially draw on and if they all just end up "Staring At You To Death" well, it's at least not as if you aren't experienced in dealing with that!

13 comments:

We'll that settles it. I'm going to have post more often now. I know how much everyone was SO looking forward to that. If it ends here then so be it. I am going to sing the praises of what Dave Sim and Gerhard did on CEREBUS for as long as I can.

One quick question that perhaps somebody can answer: Dave speaks of "the Long Siesta for Cerebus which continues until long after my death". Does he expect that, sometime after his death, Cerebus will be then rediscovered?

I as well visit every day. This site helped to spur me back into trying to read/collect all of Cerebus (just ordered and am currently reading Women, Reads, and Minds).

Damian- I like to think that, following Dave shedding his meat suit, since Cerebus will be in the public domain it will mean that scads of artists in the comic book field will start doing their own Cerebus comics. With Dave gone, others will begin toying with the character- some likely as a way to mock his beliefs, but others out of reverence, and others as a way to make the sort of comics they would have liked to see Dave make (i.e. continuing the funny animal barbarian stuff or keeping it as a straight comedy or doing alternate takes where his political career is successful or he ends up staying with Jaka, etc.). Hopefully, this will spurn on the popularity of the character- publishers will start putting out different editions of the books (maybe a hardback series). The work itself, since obnoxious self-righteous types could tell themselves someone OH SO HORRIBLY EVIL like Dave's not getting money from their buying the collections, can be considered on its own merits. Cerebus may quickly become something like the work of H.P. Lovecraft- revered and copied and co-opted and discussed and continually in print in dozens of different formats from cheap TPBs to high-end hardback editions to online archives preserved by dedicated fans. Comics' version of the Buddha, the original comics like the Torah for the serious minded comic fan to contemplate and interpret.

Thanks, Wesley; I think the chances of your last sentence are slim, but the rest of your post gives me food for thought. For example, even if Dave says no to these guys doing the CGI Cerebus movie while he's alive, they have his permission to release it after his death. And who knows how many non-canon Cerebus stories we'll see from people who'd like to play in Dave's sandbox for a while.

One quick note about that, though: just as, though I would have loved to see Dave's Howard the Duck, I'd rather see his Cerebus -- so I'd rather talented cartoonists devote themselves primarily to creating their own worlds. One of the most admirable things about Dave was his independence; whatever you think of the results, he made the comic book he wanted to make. I think it's a greater hat-tip to Dave to follow that spirit of independence than to create Cerebus pastiches. (Though I wouldn't mind seeing a couple of those!)

I don't read this site every day, but I do catch up every day I get to the library to use the computer. I'll be getting a computer with internet soon, so then it will be every day. As to Damian's question, yes, in the past, at least in letters to me (most of which were what he used to do with letters to me--reading into the record), Dave has said that he expected that it would take at least 100 years after the last issue of Cerebus for it to enter the mainstream consciousness. I used to take that as hyperbole, but then came to believe that that was what he really believed/believes.

"I AM NOT DAVE SIM"

This is an UNOFFICIAL fan-site. Although Dave Sim posts a Weekly Update here every Friday and other exclusive articles, Dave Sim and Gerhard have no control over the other content of this site ~ Tim W.